Your View: Work isn't just for offices anymore

Carol "Mickey" Santos in her letter "Back to work, everybody" (March 13) expresses scorn for those who work from home or someplace other than a traditional workplace. She makes the absurd assertion, "the only two people allowed to "work from home" are the president of the United States and the pope." Neither would be very effective if he worked only in the White House or Vatican.

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By David Briggs

southcoasttoday.com

By David Briggs

Posted Mar. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By David Briggs
Posted Mar. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Carol "Mickey" Santos in her letter "Back to work, everybody" (March 13) expresses scorn for those who work from home or someplace other than a traditional workplace. She makes the absurd assertion, "the only two people allowed to "work from home" are the president of the United States and the pope." Neither would be very effective if he worked only in the White House or Vatican.

She claims that for lawyers, going to work is going to court, but many lawyers never see the inside of a courthouse. Although many work in a specific workplace, the development of computers and telecommunications has meant that many people work from home and multiple other locations.

None of my own adult children confines their work to a single location. Our eldest daughter works for an organization that exposes horrendous sweatshop conditions around the world. Some critical work is done in their office, but she is in communication with colleagues, the press and other organizations via email and smart phone while in the office, at home or traveling. Her work involves visiting sweatshops and their workers and speaking in multiple locations.

Our son works for one of our biggest tech companies. He manages the department that develops help systems for their products. He worked at first in a company office but then at home, which saves company office space and saves him the time and expense of commuting and helps make the environment a little cleaner of exhaust fumes. His immediate boss and closest co-workers are scattered hundreds of miles apart. Conferences he sets up are located around the country and attract technicians from corporations around the world.

Our second daughter is a professor and administrator at a college, where she has an office, teaches in a classroom, can write reports and grade papers in her office and at home, and attends conferences in various locations. She also teaches an online course through the auspices of the college, which means that those students could be scattered all over the globe.

Our youngest daughter works for an Internet security firm. She works from home, when at home, and communicates with her boss, who lives in Texas. She maintains contact with colleagues by telecommunications and by frequent trips for face-to-face meetings.

When our kids visit us they bring their laptops and smart phones and often excuse themselves to attend to some important bits of business.

Ms. Santos needs to expand her out-of-date conventional view of the workplace and see the 21st century technologically driven multi-work places where people work in the office, at home and on the road.